Detention: what we ask for, and when we actually get it

The clause we put in front of a broker, the timestamps that make it stick, and an honest word about the hit rate.

Author: The LineHaul desk
Published: 5 Aug 2026
Updated: 5 Aug 2026
Read time: 5 min

In short

We ask for two hours free, then an hourly rate with a stated cap, agreed in writing on the rate confirmation before the truck is dispatched. Whether it gets paid comes down to timestamps and follow-up.

The clause we put in front of a broker

Two hours free, then an hourly rate, with a stated cap. We ask for it in writing on the rate confirmation before the truck is dispatched, not after the driver is sitting in a yard. A clause agreed in advance is a clause somebody has already priced; one raised afterwards is a favor you are asking for.

The cap matters more than people expect. Two free hours with a four-hour cap and two free hours with no cap are very different documents, and only one of them protects a full day.

The timestamps that make it stick

Arrival, check-in, door assignment, loaded or unloaded, and departure, with the gate time separate from the door time where the facility keeps you outside. A claim supported by five timestamps and a signed bill is a different conversation from a claim supported by a phone call and a memory.

In practice the ones that get disputed are arrival and departure, because those are the two that sit outside the facility's own system. Photograph the gate, note the time, and send it in while it is happening rather than at the end of the week.

An honest word about the hit rate

We are not going to give you a percentage here. We could tell you what our own experience has been, but a number on a public page reads as a promise, and detention is the single most negotiated line in freight; it depends on the broker, the shipper, the season and how the rest of the relationship is going.

What we will say plainly is that the paperwork is what decides it. Detention asked for in advance and documented as it happens gets paid materially more often than detention raised afterwards. That is a statement about process, not a projection about your settlement.

What we do at the desk

We ask for the clause on every load rather than the ones we expect to run long, because you cannot predict which shipper will hold you. We log the timestamps as they come in. And we chase it, which is the unglamorous half. A detention claim is usually won by the fourth follow-up, not the first.

A claim supported by five timestamps and a signed bill is a different conversation from a claim supported by a phone call and a memory.

Get the clause in writing firstFree time, an hourly rate and a stated cap, on the rate confirmation before the truck is dispatched. A clause agreed in advance is one somebody has already priced.
Log every timestamp as it happensArrival, check-in, door assignment, loaded or unloaded, and departure, with the gate time kept separate from the door time where the facility holds you outside.
Keep the signed bill with the timestampsThe paperwork and the clock have to arrive together. Either one on its own invites an argument about the other.
Follow it up, then follow it up againThis is the unglamorous half. A detention claim is usually won by the fourth follow-up, not the first.

Questions we get

How much detention do you ask for?

Two hours free, then an hourly rate with a stated cap. The rate is agreed with the broker on the rate confirmation, so there is no single number worth publishing here.

How often does detention actually get paid?

We are not going to put a percentage on a public page. It depends on the broker, the shipper, the season and how the rest of the relationship is going, and a number here would read as a promise.

Do you ask for it on every load?

Yes, rather than only on the ones we expect to run long. You cannot predict which shipper will hold you.

The rule behind this

Your Truth-in-Leasing rights, in the words of the rule →In the resource library · last checked 15 Aug 2026